Guesses and the Culprit Emerging from the Water

Tobirama paused, the light in his eyes growing deeper and more inscrutable.

"I saw him when I was on the verge of death."

Hashirama stepped forward. "What did you see?"

Tobirama fell silent for a moment, then slowly spoke that name.

"Uchiha Sou."

Hiruzen's body jolted as though something had struck him in the chest. Minato furrowed his brow, searching his memories for the name, but found nothing. Hashirama's expression changed most drastically—from confusion to recollection, from recollection to shock, and from shock to a heavy, indescribable gravity.

"Uchiha Sou?" Hiruzen's voice was almost forced from his throat. "Second Hokage-sama, are you certain?"

"I was about to die." Tobirama's voice was terrifyingly calm. "But my eyes were not blind yet. He stood beside me, looking down at me, his Mangekyō Sharingan spinning as he said many things to me. Those words—I will take them back to the Pure Land once the Impure World Reincarnation is released. But some things were carved into my soul the moment I was reincarnated."

He turned to Hiruzen, his gaze as sharp as a blade.

"Hiruzen. You were Konoha's longest-serving Hokage. You should know—what became of this Uchiha Sou afterward?"

Hiruzen's lips trembled faintly.

His mind searched frantically through decades of memories. The Third Hokage's breadth of experience was unmatched in the present age, yet the name—Uchiha Sou—was like a Stone Tablet whose markings had been deliberately worn away. No matter how hard he tried to recall it, he could see only a vague outline, never the words engraved upon it.

"I..." Hiruzen's voice was hoarse. "I don't remember."

"What?" Minato looked at the Third Hokage in disbelief.

"I held office for forty years. I tried my best to understand every shinobi, every clan, every piece of Konoha's history." Hiruzen's voice carried deep confusion and